Everything She Never Was
by iciclearrow
Summary: Janet Nettles begins to remember what once was before the Nibiru event.


Janet's mother had died giving birth to her. Her father technically had custody of her, but travelled frequently for work, so she was usually staying with a relative. The kids at her school and neighbourhood made fun of her, especially in late elementary and middle school, for wearing the same clothes so often. She didn't tell any of them that she lived out of her school bag most of the time as she bounced between her father's siblings' houses. Once she got her period, her Aunt Lucinda wouldn't let her stay anymore. Something about corrupting her son with her woman's body.

But that was in a different life. Janet Nettles may have kept her maiden name when she'd married Bronson, but that was all in the past—much more in the distant past than felt right. Maybe it felt further in the past than it actually was? It felt like one of the dreams you still thought was real even weeks after you'd woken up. Then again, Bronson taking her on a stakeout in his squad car that he'd set up for a date had also been in that same set of memories, so it probably was just a dream

Daphne was making her second guess that, though. She seemed to remember barely anything about even herself, and Janet was 98 percent certain that Daphne had never spoken to the other teens she was hanging out with now (apart from Fred, whom she was engaged to), but they were now suddenly acting as if they'd been best friends for their entire lives.

"I Don't Wanna Be in Love" was on the radio. Janet had never heard the song, except she had. Good Charlotte had been one of her favourite bands at one point, and she'd come up with some uncharacteristically dark stories about herself for if she ever found herself in a bad situation and needed to give someone fake information about herself.

In reality, she'd just been a normal kid. Her mom was in the house, if absent-minded and flighty, her dad worked at an engineering firm and was rarely out of town for more than a day or two, and if kids picked on her, it was because they thought it was weird for her to have such pale skin with her deep red hair. Janet had even been close with her grandparents- they'd all had lived reasonably closeby, the exception possibly being her father's mother, who still travelled between Seattle and Osaka frequently.

Janet still felt as if she didn't belong in a dress, even though she'd always worn them. She'd recently been feeling like there was a period of time when she wore more pants and when she didn't even wear red, and it felt like a lifetime ago, but also like it had just happened.

It took two and a half years for Janet to find an explanation. Really, though, it was more like the explanation found her.

Fred and Daphne were back from college on winter break and were finally getting married. Janet had been confused throughout the whole ceremony—the last thing that she remembered about their relationship was Fred breaking off the engagement and Daphne not feeling ready to start going on dates with him again.

Daphne and Fred, as excited as they were, didn't notice anything amiss with her behavior. Velma, however, did, and came over to talk to her during while the DJ played dance music on the reception floor.

She never told her husband about their past lives, and had no reason to inform her children. Bronson never seemed to remember, and she'd never get to be the person she was before (though she wished that since she'd had the second chance, she'd decided to do something else—stay in the air force maybe, become a mechanic or an electrician. She'd always loved working with her hands and wondered why she'd been stuck as the mayor when she could have reclaimed any of her past occupations).

Occasionally, she would wonder what would happen if she didn't run for office next term, though she knew it would be hard to leave her family for the military and they'd need the money to send the kids to college or trade school instead. What was the point of a second chance if she didn't get to change what she wanted to?


End file.
